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Aleksandr Ferdinand is the son of the Archduke of the Austro-Hungarian empire. He finds himself on the run one night with a few loyal men and a Stormwalker, a two-legged machine that sounds like something out of Star Wars. Deryn Sharp is a girl who loved to fly with her father. Now that he’s dead, her only hope of flying again is to disguise herself as a boy and join the British Air Service.
I loved this world that Westerfeld created. The Star Wars type machines of the Clankers set against the fantastical animals created by the Darwinists was just a lot of fun. Who doesn’t love the idea of a whale that’s evolved to fly? It was all just so whimsical that I loved it. And then to choose to set these people down smack at the beginning of World War I rather than in the future really just tickled me.
I loved the illustrations too. The detailed pencil drawings added the perfect touch to the story for me.
Alek and Deryn were great characters. They were both about fifteen or sixteen and they already had strong personalities, but I liked watching them grow and learn throughout the book. There was one point where I got pretty upset with Deryn, and I can’t decide if I think she acted out of character or if people who blindly follow orders without any thought of their own just irritate the heck out of me. Either way, I got past it and she did too.
For the record, I was not a huge fan of Westerfeld’s Uglies, but I really did love this book. So if you didn’t really care for his earlier book either, don’t let that turn you off this new series. It was a great adventure story with amazing creations and characters that I really liked. I recommend it.
8 Comments
So far I've only been able to get about 100 pages into this one, but I'm liking it. It's just not grabbing me and I've got too many other books that I "have" to read for publishers. But after your review I may just have to give it another shot and really dive in. Thanks so much! Great review! Love the video too!
Great review! I wasn't a fan of Uglies, either, but I am looking forward to reading this one!
Great review! This is a book I've been wanting to read for a long time now. I'm going to have to go get it soon! Sounds wonderful!
Great review, thanks for all the info! I didnt read Westerfeld's UGLIES series because they didnt really appeal to me, so I'm glad that your mentioned liking this book even though you werent crazy about UGLIES 😀 Can't wait to read this one!
Shy: the cover art turned me off at first too, until I saw it in person. Weird.
JG – aren't the Deryn storylines awesome? I wasn't expecting that, and I love the whole disguised girl thing, and the genetic experimentation — I loved that half of the book so much (liked Alek's, too, but Deryn's came alive for me).
Thanks for the shout out. 😀
One of my most anticipated book by Westerfeld. At first the cover art kind of turned me off but when I saw the books on the shelf, it totally drew me in! Will be waiting for the paperback to be published in about 90 days 😀 Hoping that the cover art will be the same. Very good review and I'm always glad to read positive review on books I really wanted to read.
I'm looking forward to reading this one. I've only heard good reviews of this book! Glad you liked it!
Great review!
I've had this on my list for a while now. Everyone seems to enjoy it.